U.S. Supreme Court justice to teach CNY judges, lawyers about opera

View full sizeKiichiro Sato / APU.S. Supreme Court Justice and opera aficionado Ruth Bader Ginsburg participates in a panel discussion Aug. 3 during the American Bar Association's annual meeting in Chicago. Ginsburg was joined by other panelists as they listened to performances of arias in an unusual discussion of the lessons operatic performances can bring to the law.

Washington -- A contingent of prominent Central New York judges and lawyers spent their day Saturday receiving lessons about opera from a rather unusual source — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Ginsburg, a big opera fan, planned to discuss “Trials in Opera” before a group of about 50 lawyers and judges who are treating themselves to a performance of “Aida” at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown.

Karen DeCrow, of Jamesville, a lawyer and longtime colleague of Ginsburg, organized a group of judges and lawyers through the Central New York Chapter of the Women’s Bar Association to make the road trip from Syracuse.

“She is a big opera fan,” DeCrow said of Ginsburg. “I have known her for years and I know that she goes to the Metropolitan Opera (in New York City) and Glimmerglass all the time.”

DeCrow said Ginsburg will talk about the image of the legal profession and lawyers in operas. “I can tell you the image is terrible,” DeCrow said. “They are absolute buffoons, and they are crooked.”

Among those expected to make the trip, DeCrow said, are U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Rosemary Pooler, of Syracuse, Syracuse City Court Judge Karen Uplinger and retired Onondaga County Family Court Judge Minna Buck.
Mark Weiner’s Washington Notebook appears Sunday in The Post-Standard. He can be reached at mweiner@syracuse.com or 571-970-3751.